Study begins on Alma's Pine Avenue traffic problem

Offices, medical facilities,residential units and three schools all on or just off Pine Avenue in Alma have led to traffic congestion.

Traffic is snarled the most just before school starts and after it ends for the day.

Alma school and city officials are working together to try and alleviate the problem and have hired a consulting firm which is now gathering data.

Video cameras are going up this week to record the traffic patterns, Alma City Manager Phil Moore said at the city meeting Tuesday.

The consulting firm will then use the videos to model solutions or plans to help the traffic flow and allow for students’ and residents’ safety.

“There will be options - what’s acceptable to the community,” he said.

To find out what’s acceptable to the community, four different meetings are now being planned.

On March 25th at 1 p.m. in the Alma Middle School, officials will meet with bus drivers and police officers and school safety guards. At 6:30 p.m. that same day, a meeting will be held for parents and school staff at the school.

On March 26th, a meeting will be held with medical employees and business owners at the hospital at 7 a.m.

That will be followed by a meeting with the general public and residents who live in the area at 6:30 p.m., also at the hospital, he said.

A recommendation for the community is expected to be made in June, he said.

In another matter, the city commission discussed the used clothing drop boxes scattered throughout the area.

Commissioner Roger Allman checked with the property owners where the boxes were located within the city limits.

Most people said they “just appeared,” and they had no idea how they got there, Allman said.

One, however, was told that it would “help people in Africa,” he said.

Most people believe that it benefits local charities, such as the Salvation Army or the Office of Human Services, he said.

But since the installation of the boxes, the Salvation Army’s used clothing donations dropped by about a third and the Office of Human Services also saw a decrease and asked property owners to get rid of the boxes.

The boxes, owned by such companies as Planet Aid and Community Patriots are for-profit companies, he said.

“I would recommend not to ban them, but to regulate them,” he said.

Those regulations would include an application made in writing, labels on the boxes that state the donations are not given to local charities; a contract to be supplied to the owner, and a sticker granted by the city each year - for a fee. The companies must also provide proof of insurance of $1 million, he said.

He would too recommend that the companies partner with local charities.

The commissioners agreed to send it back to the planning commission, which would finalize the proposed ordinance and give it back to the city commission for it’s final OK.